Sticking By Me
by mcat
Summary: Post ep for Lifeboat Daniel POV


"Kinda like a nail goin' through your head?" Jack had asked.   
  
I think that's what he said, must be, because I agreed with him. God, I don't think I've ever had such a bad headache. What the hell had happened, anyway? God, if there is a nail in my head, will someone please take it out?   
  
"It's going to be alright, Daniel. I'll give you something for the pain."   
  
Sorry, Janet, but I don't think even you have a big enough pill for this one. I gotta close my eyes; the lights are just too goddamned bright, driving that nail even further in... Yeah, maybe if I just try to go to sleep it'll all go away...   
  
"Teal'c, you got that stretcher ready?"   
  
Hands on me, pulling me. No, please don't. I don't want to move. It hurts to move.   
  
"It probably hurts just as much standing up, Dannyboy. Come on, let's get you home."   
  
I open my eyes. How does Jack know? Suddenly everything's spinning and I'm falling. I reach out to grab for Jack.   
  
"I gotcha, don't worry," he says.   
  
I'm looking up at him now. How did I get down here? Oh, God! "I'm gonna be sick!"   
  
++   
  
Somebody's moaning and groaning, waking me up, making that pain shoot through my skull.   
  
"Be quiet," I moan right back, hoping to put an end to my misery.   
  
I feel something cold on my forehead and then I hear a sigh of relief.   
  
The moaning has stopped. Thank God. Wait, there it is again. Was that me?   
  
"Danny?"   
  
"Jack?"   
  
I open my eyes.   
  
"Shit."   
  
"That nail through your head feeling still there?" Jack whispers. I think he's whispering. I hope he's whispering.   
  
"More like a railroad spike," I mutter in reply.   
  
Then the blessed coldness hits the top of my head and I feel like I'm in heaven. At least for a few seconds.   
  
"Janet talked some more with some of the ship's passengers. They said that the headaches should stop in a day or two."   
  
Huh? I don't know if I don't understand because he's talking so softly that I can't really hear him, or if I just can't make sense of what he said. Time to get to the bottom of things.   
  
"Jack, why do I even have a headache?"   
  
++   
  
Okay. A dozen or so consciousnesses... Is that even a word? I should know the answer to that. Personalities... people... in my head. At the same time. At least I didn't wind up in a padded room again. At least I don't think I did. No, Jack would have... would have looked guilty? Janet said he "stuck by me" this time. This time. Great. Can't wait for the first time he calls me Sybil, though. You just know he will. Great.   
  
Shit, not another one. I gotta stop thinking about this. I swear, it's when I start to dwell too long about it, that that's what triggers the headaches. But how can I not think about it? I mean, to have a dozen alien minds living inside me! Is that what it's like for a Goa'uld host? To have someone in their head, controlling their bodies? Shit, where are those pills Janet gave me?   
  
I shake one out of the bottle and toss it down with some coffee. For once, Janet says I should drink the stuff; that the caffeine would help!   
  
I need to lie down. I need to go home. Maybe I'll just put my head down on my desk. Yeah, that's it.   
  
++   
  
I heard him come into my office. Heard the quiet "shit" when he must have seen me with my head down on my desk, moaning quietly.   
  
"Daniel? What's wrong?" he asks. He has to ask?   
  
"Headache. Bad headache," came my muffled reply.   
  
"Come on, let's get you home, then."   
  
Would love to Jack. If I could move.   
  
Next thing I know he's grabbing my arm and pulling me up from the desk. I pull back.   
  
"Jack, you don't have to-"   
  
"Ah!" he replies quietly, sticking that damn finger of his up in front of my face, stopping me from saying anything more.   
  
"I said I'd stick it out with you, and I meant it," he says.   
  
"It's just another headache," I tell him anyway, my fingers pinching the bridge of my nose without even thinking about it.   
  
"Yeah, I know. What is it, the fourth, fifth one this week?"   
  
"Janet gave me some pills. They work. I just need to take one." I saw the raised eyebrow look he was giving me. "Or five," I add.   
  
"Come on, let me help you out, Danny. You don't have to be here. You shouldn't be here. You need to be home, in bed, with a big, honkin' ice pack on your head."   
  
I look up at him then, with a raised eyebrow look of my own at his offer. Ice cubes. Cold. Soothing. No more pain.   
  
"One cube for every personality?" he asks.   
  
"Two," I reply and head for the door.   
  
We head out of the office and toward the elevators.   
  
"Thanks for sticking by me, Jack."   
  
"Every time, Daniel." 


End file.
